Tariq Ramadan
As you know, Dr. Tariq Ramadan – Muslim scholar, writer, and thinker – has had his visa to enter the country reinstated, and he used this to his advantage: speaking at various engagements across the United States. We here at LoonWatch alerted our fellow citizens of the arrival of the “stealth jihadist,” coining the terminology of Robert Spencer. Yet, we didn’t want to stop just there. We wanted to report on what this man was saying.
So, we were able to secure a confidential LW operative to infiltrate the CAIR-Chicago Annual Banquet, his first public speaking engagement since being allowed to come to the U.S., to report on his speech. This operative approached us initially, telling us that he would be attending Dr. Ramadan’s speech. He posed as a regular member of the Muslim community and took clandestine notes and reported them back to us. This was a unique opportunity as Dr. Ramadan was speaking to an audience largely composed of Muslims, and so he can “let loose” and not show his “taqqiya,” as he would if he were speaking to non-Muslims. We could not pass this up.
In the beginning of his speech, he thanked those who helped him come back to the United States, such as the ACLU and others, and he said that he was blocked from coming to the United States because he spoke his mind, especially about the war in Iraq (on which, it turns out, he was correct). He said that people cannot confuse a government with its people.
He mentioned that there was one Islam: unified in its principles and beliefs, but many different cultures, interpretations, and schools of thought. It is an accepted diversity in Islam’s application. At the same time, however, he noted that there was a crisis in the understanding of Islam among Muslims, and that there were many challenges within the Muslim community that needed to be addressed. The main problem with Muslims is psychological in his opinion: he affirmed the need of Muslims to examine what is wrong with themselves, but they should also acknowledge the enormous strides Muslims – especially those in the West – have made in the last 30-50 years.
He urged Muslims to become more involved in their communities and differentitate between victimhood and having a “victim mentality.” He urged his listeners to struggle (aka “jihad”…dah dah daaaaaaah!!!!) against the victim mentality. He reminded the audience that whenever you work for justice, you will be opposed. Whenever you talk about love, he said, people will respond with hate.
Dr. Ramadan also touched upon spirituality, which is more than just praying. It is being strong from within. He quoted the verse about the parable of a good word:
Are you not aware how God sets forth the parable of a good word? [It is] like a good tree, firmly rooted, [reaching out] with its branches towards the sky, yielding its fruit at all times by its Lord’s permission. And [thus it is that] God propounds parables unto men so that they might bethink themselves [of the truth]. (14:24-25)
The roots of the tree are your heart, and the fruits of the tree are your actions, he said. An activist without spirituality is an agitated man, he said. He then gave advice about how to speak to fellow Americans: speak to them softly, and he advised the audience to behave like the “The Servants of the Most Merciful”:
And the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk on the earth with humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, “Peace!” (25:63)
God is Beautiful, and He loves beauty, Dr. Ramadan said. Muslims’ mantra must be this: By serving the people, I serve Him. He also said that he does not like defining Islam as “submission.” In his understanding, Islam is entering into God’s peace, as the verse proclaims:
O you who believe! Enter into Islam ["peace"] whole-heartedly, and follow not the footsteps of Satan, for he is to you an avowed enemy. (2:208)
One of the first things the Prophet Muhammad said, he reminded the audience, when he entered Medinah is, “Spread peace.” That is what Muslims should do. No Muslim should say that you can’t love your neighbor if he is not Muslim. This is your home, he told the American Muslim audience. Americans are your people; you cannot call fellow Americans as “them.” When American Muslims say “we,” it must be an inclusive “we,” including all Americans. Spreading peace, justice, and ethics is the purpose of Muslims in America, not to convert non-Muslim Americans to Islam. Muslims are here to make society better; the hearts of the people are not their concern. That is the realm of God.
Now comes the “smoking gun” (pun intended): Dr. Ramadan spoke of Jihad! (dah dah daaaaaaah!!!)
Jihad, he said, did not start with fighting, or qital. The first act of Jihad in the Qur’an was knowing how to use the Qur’an against those who opposed the message:
Hence, do not defer to [the likes and dislikes of] those who deny the truth, but strive hard against them, by means of this [divine writ], with utmost striving. (25:52)
He then ended his speech by turning a critical eye toward the Muslim community itself, which, he said, is very important. He bemoaned the many divisions in the Muslim community: divisions along ethnic lines, cultural lines, class lines, and economic lines. He said that there should be “Americans” in the mosques: people from all cultures. Muslims from different cultures should mix together, he said. He pointed out that many African-American Muslims feel like they are second class Muslims, and many converts feel they have to Arabize, and he criticized both phenomena. Muslims must also improve in their treatment of women, as well. If you want America to be better, he said, then Muslims must start in their own communities.
His final words were this: Never forget that you Muslims are American. He urged them to speak about Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine, and do so as Americans, not Muslims. Moreover, Muslims need to institutionalize their presence in America: Muslims need institutions, and they must work with all people. The key is confidence and humility: be confident about your position, but be humble at the same time.
There you have it, folks. Those were the words (paraphrased by our operative) of Dr. Ramadan at his speech to the CAIR-Chicago banquet. As you can see, it was full of intolerance, hatred, Islamism, and Jihadism. What was the American government thinking when it let him in?
April 16th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
*sigh*
Where’s Herbert Hoover when you need him?
April 16th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Stellar piece. Love the puns Inconnu. The controversy surrounding the person of Tariq Ramadan is indeed strange. It is paranoia to the extreme.
A critical call to all, and to stand for justice is what I discern from Ramadan.
April 16th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
I heard the speech by Ramadan, it was great. For some it might have been a little academic as I heard one person saying but I thought it was simple and strong.
I think the problem with a lot of his detractors is listening. They just don’t like to listen, they like to hate and think they are superior to everyone else.
April 16th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Loonwatch, maybe you can ask the same LW operative who infitrated the event above to do the same to the one below, in LA
this man Sultan Knish should be on your list of Islamophobes, he claims his real name is “Daniel Greenfield”? he has a blog in which he deliberately lies and fabricates stories about Islam and history to justify his bigotry.
Check out some of his posts.
sultanknish.blogspot.com
There are rumours on the Jewish Kahanist/Right Wing blogosphere that he is a well known columnist, but that he uses Sultan Knish blog for his hardcore Islamophobia.
Does anyone recognise or know him? he will be attending on May 10th 2010, in LA.
sultanknish.blogspot.com/2010/04/friday-afternoon-roundup-everything-is.html
Ironically, he is speaking at an event which highlights media misframes and lies, when he does the same himself.
Here is the website that is sponsoring this event
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cjhsla.org/
Spun out:
Five Bloggers discuss how legacy media misframes America’s friends and enemies .. and what you can do about it Monday, May 10, 2010 – 7:00 p.m.
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Jim Hoft – Gateway Pundit
J.E. (Jennifer) Dyer – The Optimistic Conservative
Omri Ceren – Mere Rhetoric
Rick Richman – Jewish Current Issues
Daniel Greenfield – Sultan Knish
Daniel Greenfield is an author and activist, born in Israel and currently living in New York. He broke the story of Obama’s ties to Father Pfleger in early 2008 and authored investigations of the Islamist ties of Congressman Mark Siljander and the anti-war ties of the Durham Torture Dems. He exposed an International Women of Courage award winner’s ties to Hizbullah and Fatah terrorists as well as the Farrakahnite connections of many of Obama’s affiliated clergy. He is a contributing editor at Family Security Matters, a regular author at the Canada Free Press and authors his own blog at SultanKnish.blogspot.com.
———————–
Maybe Loon Watch can start a competition to motivate people:) ie. A prize for the person who exposes Islamophobes:)
April 16th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
I see nothing in this article about hatred what-so-ever . Mot of you don’t even know what jihad means, Americans just say it like a scary word. It means “struggle”. Not struggle in war not struggle in anything. Just plain “struggle”. Now if you want to make it a “Jihad for God” for example struggling with your soul to become pure. I just need someone to tell me how he’s talking about hate! He even told the Muslims to regard Non-Muslim American just as they regard Muslims! I need to know why he’s said anything that even peeps at hatred!.
April 16th, 2010 at 9:57 pm
America should deport Robert Spencer to Greece.
April 16th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
I’m not sure who this tariq ramadan is, but it is the likes of below that leave me more than a little concerned. The ones that feel bold enough to speak openly about their agenda for shariah.
April 16th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
@schofuf,
You need to spend some more time on this site buddy…
LOL!! Join the LW fan club.
Don’t worry, all of us are playing for the home team. This is a satirical piece, if you hadn’t noticed
April 16th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Good article, Inconnu.
April 17th, 2010 at 12:44 am
DANIOS! When’s ur next piece up?
April 17th, 2010 at 2:02 am
I like this man, he speaks the truth.
April 17th, 2010 at 2:22 am
Inconnu
Where you sitting next to Robert and Pam?:-)
Good Stuff
April 17th, 2010 at 3:09 am
Imad, my next piece should come out in about a day! Sorry for the huge delay…was miserably busy with my career.
April 17th, 2010 at 4:27 am
There you have folks , a speech by Dr.Ramadan,full of TAQQIYA and DECEPTION,Quoting the Quran,which speaks with the fork tongue.Muslims can never be loyal to their benefactors unless they subdue and humiliate them.He never uttered one word to his brothers im Muslim lands like Pakistan,Egypt,Saudi-Arabia to behave like human beings towards the Non-Muslims.He is a true venom filled hypocrite Muslim.
April 17th, 2010 at 9:34 am
How dare he be polite!
According to the phobes, you can be sure that he was just using codewords or something, coordinating the jihad…
April 17th, 2010 at 11:44 am
@Lawrence,
You talk conspiratorial rubbish. What has Ramadan said which is deceitful?
Why don’t you tell your “brothers” deployed in the Middle East and other parts of the world to quit killing innocent people? I just saw the video released by WikiLeaks of American war criminal terrorists gunning down civilians and reporters in cold blood.
What’s your excuse? Should every American be held responsible for this? We, the Caribbean are wise to your brand of forked tongue bullsh**.
April 17th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
yawn @lawence like you were there?
Or have you made this up under instructions from Pam and Robert
April 17th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Hooray for Dr. Ramadan! And THANK YOU for the LW lowdown. The man is obviously a great thinker, and a badly-needed voice of reason and compassion. No wonder the Islamophobes hate him so much!
April 18th, 2010 at 10:48 am
“.He never uttered one word to his brothers im Muslim lands like Pakistan,Egypt,Saudi-Arabia to behave like human beings towards the Non-Muslims.He is a true venom filled hypocrite Muslim.”
if he had, you would have screamed taqqiyah.
Why not just admit that you will never ever accept the words of a Muslim unless it confirms whatever caricature you’ve created in your head?
btw you may consider this a not-so-subtle attempt at….TAQQIYA!
April 18th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
It is alarming and disgusting to let peace-loving people, like this guy Ramadan, into the US of A. Please stop and think for a moment! If we stopped hating and bombing Muslims, then the American weapon industry would crash. Aren’t we already in a bad enough economic disaster. We HAVE to stop people like Ramadan. There are hundred of thousands of jobs riding on the security industry. We NEED Muslims to feel insecure, afraid and marginalized so they can be provoked. Once one of them does something stupid, then comes our chance to blame all of them and create MORE jobs. We need MORE jobs. Our future (i.e. our economy) depends on it.
April 19th, 2010 at 8:06 am
@ Loooooony Lawrence, are you sure it wasn’t Kol Nidrei instead of Taqiyya?
Anyone can come up with the Conspiratorial hysteria that you peddle, but only the real Looooons actually believe it. The Russian equivalent of this paranoia-peddler believed in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion & the German ones in Hitler.
As for Taqiyya, as far as I can gather from actually looking his particular branch of faith, they reject that concept. Then again, for those mired in crazed MacCarthyite fantasies about Muslims under every bed, probably think even that is a lie. Basic logic means that one cannot prove a negative. What a prize fool.
April 20th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
“He posed as a regular member of the Muslim community and took clandestine notes and reported them back to us.”
I prefer to see the entire speech on video or read the entire speech made by the person himself. I am sorry this is too many unknown people removed for me. Someone going by the name “Inconnu” telling me he got notes from someone who claims to be a regular member of the community who said to have attended the speech and is according to him giving Inconnu clandestine notes that we are to assume are any good, of which Inconnu summaries and selects a few lines from the unknown muslims notes. It all very well be good notes by someone who attended the speech, and summarized well by Inconnu, but without the actual video or text, we just won’t know. This is more like gossip.
April 20th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Do not bother responding to “lawrence” directly. He only ever comments once per article.
July 8th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
i think this book gets to the nub of the matter:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brother-Tariq-Doublespeak-Ramadan/dp/1904863264/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278621299&sr=1-1